Communities expert Tom Watkins joins Emergencies Partnership in ‘’stunt double’’ secondment

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The Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCS Emergencies Partnership) has announced the appointment of Tom Watkins for a five-month secondment from Communities 1st, as head of insight.  

Tom has held a number of senior roles at Communities 1st, including head of wellbeing and inclusion and, most recently, head of research and networks. He steps in to fill the insights part of the role previously held by Sam Howorth, who made a huge contribution to the work of the partnership before joining the fundraising team at the British Red Cross last month. 

With over a decade of experience in social prescribing, community engagement and resilience-building, Tom brings a wealth of knowledge to the partnership. He’ll help the partnership team build a bank of insight that will help its more than 300 partners focus on shared goals and values as it aims to turn lessons from recent emergencies into action that builds resilience across the whole of society.  

Tom says: “What drives me is a passionate desire to see a better future for my children. I have two young girls and I want to see them grow up in a safe, prosperous society and I want them to be resilient individuals that can find their way in the world without being frightened of what it has to offer.” 

Tom is committed to the principles of social prescribing and how he can apply them to this role with the partnership. He describes social prescribing as a way of connecting people with other people and resources in their communities, to empower them to address deeply personal and complex socio-economic needs and regain control over their lives.

“I have seen the good work of the Emergencies Partnership for the last five years from the viewpoint of a partner organisation,” he says, “and I’m glad to have the opportunity to build on its insights work, to ensure they're accessible to our partners, and the driving force behind our work to increase resilience.” 

Tom says a big part of his work will be finding a shared language to connect and build trust between different partners. “There are so many different languages we encounter in our professional lives, whether we work in government departments, national and local health or social care, the emergency services, the military, the voluntary, community and faith sectors, not forgetting language of ordinary people in local communities. We all have a unique vocabulary. But no one speaks like that at home!  

“To bring partners together across all those spheres you need to be multi-lingual and translate between them.  The challenge is to just speak human, to an extent forget whether you’re a volunteer or a professional and start from a place of - ‘we all care about this. Let's have a discussion’. 

“So my goal while I’m here will be to disentangle complex information, make it clear, digestible, and compelling, and present it in a common language so everyone can take part in the conversation.” 

Emergencies Partnership director Robyn Knox says: “We’re delighted to welcome Tom to the team, and hope we all learn a lot together.  I’m also very grateful to Communities 1st, and hope this approach to secondments is a great example of skills sharing and professional development opportunities between our partners.”

Outside his main work commitments, as well as being a husband and dad to two, Tom is an active volunteer, a local radio presenter, a professional actor, a gymnastics coach, and a trainer of stunt professionals on film sets.